


Where It Began

by raspberrylimonade



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series), Teen Titans - All Media Types, Titans (Comics)
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Injury Recovery, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 17:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19950070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raspberrylimonade/pseuds/raspberrylimonade
Summary: When Dick gets gravely injured, he and Raven wind up in a place from his past. Raven learns a small part of his history as a result.





	Where It Began

**Author's Note:**

> RobRae week 2019  
> day 6: injury
> 
> (or, I had meant to write this for RobRae week but only finished it now.)
> 
> Imagines a world where the Titans only met when they were older.

He woke up extremely slowly, slipping in and out of consciousness until his eyes were could finally stay open long enough.

His first instinct was to sit up, and his torso immediately ached doing so. He groaned softly and finally propped himself up on one arm. His other hand went to his chest, feeling the slight ridges and tender flesh where his wounds had been. There was a piece of gauze just under his left ribcage, and one of his hands was bandaged, but he didn’t dwell on them. He knew from experience how different stages of recovery felt. If he pulled the wrappings off he would find no open wounds underneath. He similarly brushed off the tenderness at the back of his head -- at this point it was nothing more than if he’d just slipped and fallen.

Done with his self-examination, which took barely more than two seconds, Dick turned to his surroundings. The gray sheets were unfamiliar at first, until he noticed the dull wallpaper, the exposed rafters, the large industrial windows and sparse furniture.

He knew this place.

He finally pulled himself up, studying the loft. It had been a long while since he had last been here, yet the space was exactly how he remembered. Everything was still in place, bar the fact that he was in bed.

He pulled the covers aside and stood up slowly, feeling his bones ache. Turning his head, he surveyed the room, and noted a fresh change of civilian clothes draped over the headboard, though he opted not to put them on.

He had gotten here somehow. Someone must have brought him here, and if someone was here, he needed to know who. Never mind that he was half naked.

He spotted the culprit soon enough, as he rounded the sofa set.

“Rachel?”

The figure stirred, purple hair shifting across her face as she straightened and blinked blearily at Dick.

“Richard. You’re awake.”

She was dressed in civilian clothing - a long-sleeved gray tunic and black leggings, a long blue coat tossed at her feet - which meant that the team had not been mobilised. She had found him herself.

There was a long pause as the two regarded each other. Questions raced through Dick’s mind, and he imagined the same happening with Raven (although, her typical blank expression was always hard to read). They both had a lot to explain.

“What happened?” he finally settled on asking.

“You went off on your own and someone got the better of you,” Raven stated. Dick wasn’t sure if she meant to be concerned or sarcastic.

“You found me,” he voiced. It was easier to list the things he needed answers to than formulate questions when his mind was racing. “You brought me here...how did you find this place?”

“I felt it,” Raven answered hesitantly. “You are were still half-conscious when I found you - barely. You were in and out of it, but in your mind you were thinking that you needed to get to here.”

She gestured around the loft.

Dick tensed. “You can read my mind?”

“I only see pieces of memories,” Raven defended, shaking her head ever so slightly. “It happens when I use too much magic on someone. It was that bad, Dick. I could barely keep you stable. The memories are a by-product of using so much power. I can’t control them. I didn’t -- ”

“What did you see?” Dick demanded, though his voice sounded more like a groan.

The half-demon never backed down from his gaze, instead maintaining a blank expression, unfazed by his harshness.

“Nothing discerning. You were preoccupied with the thought of this place.”

Dick figured that Raven had probably saved his life, and deserved at least an explanation.

“It’s an old safe house. There are a few of these in various cities, meant for...emergencies. This was the closest one to where I was.”

The girl glanced around, raising a brow at the finer details of the ‘old’ space. The loft, while spartan, had been lived in. There was the futon she had fallen asleep on, the bed and the dresser, crockery in the kitchen, a tall reading lamp, a large industrial table, and an old circus poster tacked on one wall. Most of the surfaces had a coating of dust, but the place was obviously once inhabited.

“I stayed here for a while, when I first left,” Dick admitted.

Raven raised a thin eyebrow. “You severed ties with your mentor and went to live in one of his safe houses?”

“It wasn’t in use anymore at that time. Alf-- uh, an associate transferred it to my portfolio, so technically it’s mine.”

Raven hummed. It sounded as though she accepted his answer, but had more questions. To be fair, he hadn’t told the team much about his life despite knowing about theirs. 

A slender hand drifted towards his torso, but stopped before making contact.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, withdrawing her hand.

“Sore,” Dick admitted. He had the feeling Raven would know if he lied and said he was fine. “But all healed. Thank you.”

He looked her in the eye as he said those two words, trying to convey his gratitude. It was hard to tell where Raven stood with the team. She was reclusive, spoke rarely, and frankly Dick thought she didn’t like any of them very much. However, she had been reliable in battle since joining (albeit unenthusiastically) their motley crew. She’d saved him and patched him up last night, and as far as he could tell had been respectful of his privacy.

Raven frowned. “Your tissue may still be regenerating. I can fix muscle and bone but it is like rebuilding with worn out pieces. Eventually the body still needs to regenerate, and that takes time even with magic.”

“I’m fine,” Dick tried assuring her. “I’m used to it.”

“You’ve done this a lot, then,” Raven murmured.

Another pause permeated the loft as the implications of Dick’s words bore down on them. Raven’s eyes drifted around his former abode, the room another symbol of how shrouded his past was from the team.

“Rachel,” he called, drawing her attention.

Her eyes lifted to meet his, and Dick suddenly felt the urge to tell her everything - his past, his secrets, what he’d really been doing last night. He swallowed it down.

“You did what you could. It was enough to save me.”

Raven glanced at the bandages around his torso. She lifted her hand again. “May I?”

“You don’t have to,” he said, although his body stepped closer to allow the sorceress to touch him.

He watches her eyes flutter shut, her lips move as she whispered her incantation, the words indistinct. Black aura seeped from her fingers and spread across his body, slipping under his bandages. This was followed by a cold, tingling sensation, as if his wounds were filling with mint ointment. Dick exhaled heavily at the sensation.

The aura receded, leaving the feeling of smooth skin under the cloth wrappings. Raven removed her hand.

“The back of your head,” she ordered.

Dick obliged and turned to face away from her. He felt Raven’s fingers pushing through his hair, feeling for the bump. He winced when her fingers brushed over the tender area, realising at the back of his mind that there had been broken skin there, and heard Raven’s small intake of breath at his reaction. Though, she did not apologise, understanding the necessity of pain in healing.

He breathed deeply as Raven’s magic did its work. The head wound stung more than the gashes on his chest did, but his instinct was to not show it. He briefly wondered if this was why Raven had been able to glimpse his memory, having to heal his head, being so close to his mind. He was distracted from the thought by the withdrawal of her fingers from his hair.

He turned back without being prompted, eyes meeting her gaze. He found himself reaching for her hand and she did his, palms meeting in the middle. Raven turned her hand to face upwards so his bandaged hand rested on hers. Her other hand came up to cover his. Black aura flickered, and then she released his hand.

He peeled back at the wrap around his hand, finding dried blood but undamaged skin.

“Thank you,” he repeated.

This time, Raven nodded. Her lips twitched - a simple movement, but Dick would believe she almost gave him a smile.

She took a step backwards.

“I’ll leave you to change,” she softly declared. Violet irises shifted downwards before she blinked and turned away.

Dick found himself following her figure as she walked away from him. Something about her actions felt momentous, like something significant had happened. He wanted to say more, but words didn’t form in his mind.

He glanced down at his hand once again, and when he looked up, Raven was already some twenty, thirty feet away from him, headed for small stairway that led to his personal gym.

He thought about calling her back, asking her to stay, but his body remained frozen, unable to act. With a sigh, he wondered why he mourned the sight of her back.


End file.
